September 02, 2013 - JAPAN - The drip, drip, drip of bad news about Japan's tsunami-damaged nuclear power plant keeps going. There's been a sharp spike in radiation levels measured in the pipes
and containers holding water at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
plant in Japan.

Radiation Readings Are 18 Times Higher Than Previously Measured.

Japan's nuclear watchdog members, including Nuclear Regulation Authority
members in radiation protection
suits, inspect contaminated water tanks
at the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear
power
plant in the town of Okuma, Fukushima prefecture on August 23, 2013.
(JAPAN POOL/AFP/Getty Images)

An operator at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan has said
radiation readings are 18 times higher than previously measured. The
staff member said they had found highly radioactive water dripping
from a pipe used to connect two coolant tanks and that it had been
patched up using tape.

The discovery of the pipe came a
day after Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) said it found new radiation
hotspots at four sites around coolant tanks, with one reading at 1,800
millisieverts per hour - a dose that would kill a human left exposed to
it in four hours.

Last week the plant operator
admitted 300 tonnes of toxic water had seeped out of one of the vast
containers - one of around 1,000 on the site - before anyone had
noticed.

The facility was destroyed by a tsunami in March 2011

The spill sparked fears the toxic water may have seeped into the
nearby ocean and was categorised as a Level 3 event, the most serious
category since the meltdown itself.

The plant was
severely damaged in March 2011 following an earthquake and tsunami which
killed thousands of people and displaced many more.

In
response to growing domestic and international criticism over Tepco's
handling of the crisis, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promised the
world his government would play a greater role in stopping leaks of
highly radioactive water.

Water tanks at the plant.

"The accident in Fukushima cannot be left entirely to Tokyo Electric Power. There is a need for the government to play a role with a sense of urgency, including taking measures to deal with the waste water," he said.

Mr Abe's pledge came as the world's nuclear watchdog urged Japan to explain more clearly what is happening at Fukushima and avoid sending "confusing messages" about the disaster.

WATCH: Earth is softening and leaks are out of control.

Sky's foreign affairs correspondent Lisa Holland visited Fukushima on August 23 and was given access to government efforts to restore confidence in the crippled plant.

She said there was little sign of life in the residential areas around the facility and spoke to people who said they will not go back to their homes until they have been told the truth about the dangers by ministers. - SKY News.

Photo Showing "Boiling Sea" Off Japan Coast Near Fukushima.

A Twitter photo showing a “boiling sea” off the coast of Japan, near the Fukushima nuclear power plant with radiation leaks, has gone viral online.So, why is the sea ‘boiling’?

The answer can be found on the NaturalNews.com report. “After a 29-month cover-up, the Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) is now calling for international help and has all but admitted Fukushima's radiation leaks are spiraling out of control. In addition to the leaking water storage units that are unleashing hundreds of tons of radioactive water each day, Tepco now says 50% of its contaminated water filtration capability has been taken offline due to corrosion,” the news website published Tuesday.

DemocracyNow.org posted that Japan’s nuclear regulator said Wednesday it has officially raised the radioactive water leak severity rating to Level 3 on the international scale for radiological releases.

In an interview, nuclear energy industry expert Arnie Gundersen warned that the problem at Fukushima “is going to get worse.” - Cool Buster.

Fukushima's Radioactive Plume Could Reach U.S. Waters By 2014.

An Aug. 26 photo provided by the Tokyo Electric Power Co. shows
Toshimitsu Motegi, Japan's economy,
trade and industry minister, in a
red safety helmet at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant during
inspections
of tanks holding contaminated water. TEPCO says it has found
new radiation hotspots near tanks storing
toxic water, with one reading
peaking at 1,800 millisieverts per hour. TEPCO via AFP - Getty Images

A radioactive plume of water in the Pacific Ocean from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, which was crippled in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, will likely reach U.S. coastal waters starting in 2014, according to a new study. The long journey of the radioactive particles could help researchers better understand how the ocean’s currents circulate around the world.

Ocean simulations showed that the plume of radioactive cesium-137 released by the Fukushima disaster in 2011 could begin flowing into U.S. coastal waters starting in early 2014 and peak in 2016. Luckily, two ocean currents off the eastern coast of Japan — the Kuroshio Current and the Kuroshio Extension — would have diluted the radioactive material so that its concentration fell well below the World Health Organization’s safety levels within four months of the Fukushima incident. But it could have been a different story if nuclear disaster struck on the other side of Japan.

“The environmental impact could have been worse if the contaminated water would have been released in another oceanic environment in which the circulation was less energetic and turbulent,” said Vincent Rossi, an oceanographer and postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Physics and Complex Systems in Spain.

Fukushima’s radioactive water release has taken its time journeying across the Pacific. By comparison, atmospheric radiation from the Fukushima plant began reaching the U.S. West Coast within just days of the disaster back in 2011. Tracking radioactivity’s path

The radioactive plume has three different sources: radioactive particles falling out from the atmosphere into the ocean, contaminated water directly released from the plant, and water that became contaminated by leaching radioactive particles from tainted soil.

The release of cesium-137 from Fukushima in Japan’s more turbulent eastern currents means the radioactive material is diluted to the point of posing little threat to humans by the time it leaves Japan’s coastal waters. Rossi worked with former colleagues at the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales in Australia to simulate the spread of Fukushima’s radioactivity in the oceans — a study detailed in the October issue of the journal Deep-Sea Research Part 1.

Researchers averaged 27 experimental runs of their model — each run starting in a different year — to ensure that the simulated spread of the cesium-137 as a "tracer" was not unusually affected by initial ocean conditions. Many oceanographers studying the ocean’s currents prefer using cesium-137 to track the ocean currents because it acts as a passive tracer in seawater, meaning it doesn't interact much with other things, and decays slowly with a long half-life of 30 years.

“One advantage of this tracer is its long half-life and our ability to measure it quite accurately, so that it can be used in the future to test our models of ocean circulation and see how well they represent reality over time,” Rossi told LiveScience. “In 20 years' time, we could go out, grab measurements everywhere in the Pacific and compare them to our model.”

Journey across the Pacific Rim

The team focused on predicting the path of the radioactivity until it reached the continental shelf waters stretching from the U.S. coastline to about 180 miles (300 kilometers) offshore. About 10 to 30 becquerels (units of radioactivity representing decay per second) per cubic meter of cesium-137 could reach U.S. and Canadian coastal waters north of Oregon between 2014 and 2020. (Such levels are far below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s limits for drinking water.)

By comparison, California’s coast may receive just 10 to 20 becquerels per cubic meter from 2016 to 2025. That slower, lesser impact comes from Pacific currents taking part of the radioactive plume down below the ocean surface on a slower journey toward the Californian coast, Rossi explained.

A large proportion of the radioactive plume from the initial Fukushima release won't even reach U.S. coastal waters anytime soon. Instead, the majority of the cesium-137 will remain in the North Pacific gyre — a region of ocean that circulates slowly clockwise and has trapped debris in its center to form the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” — and continue to be diluted for approximately a decade following the initial Fukushima release in 2011. (The water from the current power plant leak would be expected to take a similar long-term path to the initial plume released, Rossi said.)

But the plume will eventually begin to escape the North Pacific gyre in an even more diluted form. About 25 percent of the radioactivity initially released will travel to the Indian Ocean and South Pacific over two to three decades after the Fukushima disaster, the model showed. - Huffington Post.

Contamination Could Pollute Entire World, At Least Pacific Ocean.

Joel Legendre, RTL (French radio network): We
hear that what happened in Fukushima, what is ejected from there –
cesium and those things – might eventually pollute the whole world, at
least the Pacific Ocean, the eastern coast of Japan, the Japan Sea
coast. One concern people have all around the world is to know: Might it
effect more than the east coast of Japan?...

Hirohiko Izumida, Governor of Niigata Prefecture: ...Levels
[of radioactive contamination detected in food in Niiagata Prefecture]
went up as a result of Fukushima, and I believe that most likely
throughout the world similar trends have been observed.

Simulation Shows ENTIRE PACIFIC OCEAN Polluted By Radioactive Water In JUST 6 YEARS.

This graphic shows the gradual contamination of the Pacific Ocean due
to leaks of radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant
in Japan.

The simulation, which was run by a German marine research institute,
shows the ENTIRE Pacific waters being polluted by radioactive water in
just six years.

Although the results failed to grab attention when first released last year,
experts now fear that the hypothesis may become a scary reality, after
the Japanese government recently admitted that some 3-hundred tons of
radioactive water have leaked into the ocean everyday.

Mitsuhei Murata, a former Japanese ambassador to Switzerland: “TEPCO
recently admitted to leaks of radioactive water. The amount is much
greater than what the simulation had taken into account [10
petabecquerels of Cs-137].” - Arirang.

WATCH: Radioactive water may contaminate entire Pacific Ocean in 6 years.

September 02, 2013 - EUROPE - At least three chemical attacks were staged in Syria between April
and August, a declassified French intelligence report claims, while
President Bashar Assad said it was “illogical” for the government to
launch a chemical weapons strike.

The declassified nine-page French intelligence report, issued by the country’s external and
military services, suggests government forces loyal to President
Assad were behind the attack, which took place on August 21 in
eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus.

The report alleges the strikes were directed from
government-controlled areas to the east and west of Damascus and
targeted rebel zones; the intelligence also describes "massive
use of chemical agents" involved in the attack.

“Unlike previous attacks that used small amounts of chemicals
and were aimed at terrorizing people, this attack was tactical
and aimed at regaining territory," government sources
commented to Reuters.

The source added that since then Assad’s forces had subsequently
bombed the areas to erase evidence of strikes.

Moreover, the report alleges the Syrian government staged at
least three chemical attacks since April, according to AFP,
including those in the towns of Saraqib and Jobar in April. Those
attacks appeared to have killed about 280 people.

The report was published on the websites of the French
presidency, the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry at 5 pm
Paris time (7 pm GMT).

"We are going to give the MPs everything we have – classified
until now – to enable every one of them to take on board the
reality of the unacceptable attack," French Prime Minister
Jean-Marc Ayrault said Monday.

Syrian activists inspect the bodies of people they say were killed by
nerve gas in the Ghouta region, in the
Duma neighbourhood of Damascus
August 21, 2013.(Reuters / Bassam Khabieh)

French President Francois Hollande has backed a call from US
President Barack Obama for a military strike against the Syrian
government as a punitive response to the Aug. 21 chemical attack.
However, after Obama requested an authorization from the
Congress, France said they do not intend to act alone and intends
to create a coalition for intervention in Syria.

"It's not for France to act alone. The president is continuing
his work of persuasion to bring together a coalition without
delay. This act cannot be left without a response," PM
Ayrault reiterated after presenting an intelligence report on
Syria to lawmakers, his defense and foreign ministers,
intelligence and security officials.

"France is determined to penalize the use of chemical weapons
by Assad's regime and to dissuade [further attacks] with a
forceful and firm response," Ayrault said. "The objective
is neither to topple the regime nor to liberate the country,"
he said, adding that only a political solution in Syria was
possible.

Ayrault also said no vote was scheduled for Wednesday’s
parliamentary debate on the Syrian conflict. The French
constitution doesn't require a vote for the president to be able
to authorize military action, Ayrault added.

Assad slams ‘illogical’ accusations of chemical attacks

Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar Assad has derided allegations
from the West that his government was behind alleged chemical
attacks in the country. He challenged the world to provide
“the slightest proof” he had used chemical weapons against his
own people, and questioned the logic behind such accusations.

“Supposing that our army wants to use weapons of mass
destruction… Is it possible that it does so in an area that it is
itself in, and where soldiers are wounded by these weapons, which
UN inspectors noted while visiting hospitals in which they were
treated. Where is the logic?” the Syrian leader said.

“We have challenged the United States and France to come up
with a single piece of proof,” he told Le Figaro. “Obama
and Hollande have been incapable of doing so.”

People demonstrate against a US-led strike on Syria in front of the
White House in
Washington on August 31, 2013.(AFP Photo / Nicholas Kamm)

“Anybody who contributes to the financial and military
reinforcement of terrorists is the enemy of the Syrian people. If
the policies of the French state are hostile to the Syrian
people, the state will be their enemy,” Assad said, adding
that the French people themselves were not enemies, but the
French government’s policies were regarded as hostile.

“There will be repercussions, negative ones obviously, on
French interests,” he concluded.

Assad said that any military action from the country would
spark negative repercussions on French interests, calling the
region a “powder keg.”

“The whole world will lose control of the situation.
Chaos and extremism will spread. The risk of a regional war
exists,” he said. Assad’s comments came before the French
intelligence report was published.

UN chemical attack investigation

The samples collected by the UN chemical investigation team of
the suspected chemical attack in Ghouta are to be examined by the
Swedish Defense Research Institute in the northern city of Umea,
said Ake Sellstrom, who leads the investigation, Russian media
reported.

Sellstrom rebuffed assumptions that the samples were not reliable
due to too much time having elapsed after the attack. He noted
that the material was collected in a short time, so there is a
good chance for accurate analysis.

"It is rarely possible to collect samples after such a short
time," Sellstrom said. The Defense Research Institute says
the analysis of samples brought back from Syria will take about
two weeks. Some samples will also be studied in Finland.

The publication of the intelligence report follows Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s call for lifting the veil on all
available information regarding the alleged chemical attack.

He added that the evidence provided by the US was not convincing,
‘nothing concrete, no geographical coordinates or
details.'

Finally, he warned that a strike on Syria would lead to a huge
increase in extremism and have the opposite effect to what the
Western powers desire.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.(AFP Photo / Vasily Maximov).

The Russian minister had previously warned that Western military
action would sink efforts to organize a peace conference in
Geneva.
"If the action announced by the US president – to the great
regret of all of us – does in fact take place... it will put off
the chances of (holding) this conference for a long time, if not
forever", Lavrov said.

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin labeled the idea
that the Syrian government would use chemical weapons on its own
people when UN inspectors were in Damascus as “utter
nonsense.” The Russian President called the affair a
“provocation” by Syrian rebels hoping to embroil Western
powers in the conflict.

The Geneva conference which is due to take place in late
2013, is meant to bring the Syrian government of President
Bashar Assad and the Syrian National Coalition, the two main
opposing sides of the conflict, to the negotiating table in a bid
to find a political solution to the crisis. - RT.

NATO Secretary-General Warns Of 'Danger' If World Does Not React To Syria Firmly.

NATO's secretary-general said on Monday he had seen evidence convincing
him Syrian authorities were behind a deadly chemical weapons attack and
said it would send a "dangerous signal to dictators" if the world did
not respond firmly.

However, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said it was up
to individual NATO countries to decide how they would respond to the
attack and he did not envisage any NATO role beyond existing plans to
defend NATO member Turkey, which borders Syria.

"I have been
presented with concrete information and, without going into details, I
can tell you that personally I am convinced, not only that a chemical
attack has taken place ... but I am also convinced that the Syrian
regime is responsible," Rasmussen told a news conference.

US
President Barack Obama has said he will seek congressional authorization
for punitive action against Syrian President Bashar Assad after what
Washington said was a sarin gas attack on Aug. 21 that killed more than
1,400 people.

Rasmussen said there was "agreement that we need a
firm international response in order to avoid that chemical attacks take
place in the future. It would send, I would say, a dangerous signal to
dictators all over the world if we stand idly by and don't react."

WATCH: Rasmussen is "convinced" Syrian regime is responsible for violent chemical attack, standing by without response would be dangerous for world.

But Rasmussen said he saw no further role for NATO in the Syria crisis, beyond defending Turkey.

"If
a response to what has happened in Syria were to be a military
operation, I'd envisage a very short, measured, targeted operation, and
you don't need the NATO command and control system to conduct such a
short, measured, tailored, military operation," he said.

Meanwhile,
the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and four other ships in its strike
group moved into the Red Sea early on Monday, US defense officials said,
describing the move as "prudent planning" in case the ships are needed
for military action against Syria.

The officials said the Nimitz
entered the Red Sea around 6 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT), but the strike group
had not received any orders to move into the Mediterranean, where five
US destroyers and an amphibious ship remain poised for possible cruise
missile strikes against Syria.

Moving the Nimitz into the Red Sea
was aimed at putting more US assets in place if they are needed to
support what US officials still describe as a limited attack against
Syria after it used chemical weapons against civilians.

"It does
place that strike group in a position to respond to a variety of
contingencies," said one official, who was not authorized to speak
publicly.

The nuclear-powered Nimitz is accompanied by the
Princeton, a cruiser, and three destroyers - the William P. Lawrence,
Stockdale and Shoup, according to the officials.

They said there
had been no change regarding six US Navy ships now in the eastern
Mediterranean, but military planners were reassessing the situation
given a delay in the cruise missile strikes that had been expected this
past weekend.

President Barack Obama on Saturday backed off
imminent strikes by five destroyers off the coast of Syria until
Congress had time to vote its approval. Defense officials said the delay
gave them more time to reassess which ships and other weapons will be
kept in the region - and whether some may be allowed to leave. Congress
returns to Washington Sept. 9.

The US Navy doubled its presence
in the eastern Mediterranean in the past week, effectively adding two
destroyers to the three that generally patrol the region.

The
destroyers are carrying a combined load of about 200 Tomahawk missiles,
but officials say a limited strike on Syria could be accomplished with
half that number. - JPost.

Pope Francis On Syria: ‘I Condemn The Use Of Chemical Weapons’.

Pope Francis waves as he arrives for a private visit at the Saint Agostino church in Rome on Aug. 28, 2013. Reuters/Max Rossi

Pope Francis condemned the use of chemical weapons Sunday, when he
announced a worldwide day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria on
Sept. 7 and called for a negotiated settlement of the civil war in the
Middle Eastern country, the Associated Press reported.

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church had already developed a reputation for doing things differently before he appeared in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City and spoke exclusively about Syria -- a country in severe turmoil -- instead of the traditional religious themes associated with the weekly papal appearance, as noted by AP.

The pontiff said he opposed war and raised his hands as he said: “War brings on war! Violence brings on violence. With utmost firmness, I condemn the use of chemical weapons. I tell you that those terrible images from recent days are burned into my mind and heart.” Pope Francis was apparently referring to media images of recent victims of chemical weapons in Syria.

The prayer vigil is set to take place in Vatican City from 7 p.m. to midnight local time, inspired by the mayhem occurring in the war-weary country. Pope Francis reportedly invited Catholics, other Christians, nonbelievers and anyone who is a “man of good faith” to attend St. Peter’s Square on that evening to help give the “gift” of peace to Syria.

He apparently touched on the U.S. government’s thinking about punishing the Syrian government for its use of chemical weapons on civilians. “My heart is deeply wounded by what is happening in Syria and anguished by the dramatic developments” on the horizon, AP quoted him as saying.

The pope wants people on both sides of the conflict to put down their weapons and “listen to the voice of their conscience and with courage take up the way of negotiations.” - IBTimes.

September 02, 2013 - GREENLAND - British and American scientists watching Greenland's massive ice
sheet have found what appears to be a 460-mile "megacanyon" far beneath
the frozen surface of the world's largest island.

The canyon is 750 km (470 miles) long in central and north Greenland and
comparable in scale
to parts of the Grand Canyon that is twice as deep -
1.6 km

Airborne radar images
taken by the U.S. space agency NASA and compiled by scientists at the
University of Bristol revealed the canyon's existence, Bristol
glaciologist Jonathan Bamber said Thursday. It's buried under the layer
of ice that blankets Greenland, a covering up to 3 kilometers (1.9
miles) thick.

The gouge is about 50%
longer than Arizona's 277-mile Grand Canyon, but not as deep -- ranging
from 650 feet to about 2,600 feet (200 to 800 meters), Bamber said. It
runs from the middle of Greenland to its northern shore, on the Arctic
Ocean, and it's likely to have been covered over by ice for 4 million
years.

"It's a continuous
canyon. It's pretty deep. It very much looks like it predates the ice
sheets," Bamber said.

"It's remarkable to find something like this when many people believe
the surface of the Earth is so well mapped,"
lead author Jonathan
Bamber, of the University of Bristol in England, said of the canyon
described
in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

"We think it's indicative of a river system that
was here before the ice sheet was there, and which perhaps was modified
by the ice sheet cover some, but not much."

The discovery is a byproduct of the intense scientific focus on Greenland
amid concerns about rising global temperatures. The radar images were
shot by NASA's Operation IceBridge, which flies aircraft over the island
because the ice sheet is too thick for satellite-based radar to
penetrate, said Michael Studinger, the project's lead scientist.

Bamber and colleagues from Bristol, the University of Calgary in Canada and Urbino University in Italy published their findings Thursday
in the journal Science. They were trying to compile an updated set of
ice-sheet records when they noticed "this long linear feature that
seemed to be pretty continuous," Bamber said.

A vast and previously unmapped gorge 800 metres deep has been found
under ice in Greenland,
comparable in size to parts of the Grand Canyon
in the US.

"It looks like it was a pretty extensive river system millions of years ago," he said.

The find isn't a
"first-order concern" for scientists studying climate change but will
help researchers understand how the ice ebbs and flows across the face
of Greenland and other polar environments, Bamber said.

WATCH: Beneath Greenland's ice, a grand canyon.

The main reason Greenland
is under study is to record the height of the ice above it, not to map
the land beneath, Studinger said. The existence of the canyon is
"basically a tiny piece in the big puzzle of what's going on in
Greenland," but still an exciting find, he said.

"We live in the 21st
century, and we are still discovering 750-kilometer features under the
Greenland ice sheet that we didn't know about," he said. - CNN.

September 02, 2013 - WORLDWIDE VOLCANOES - The following constitutes the new activity, unrest and ongoing reports of volcanoes across the globe.

Tolbachik (Kamchatka):
Although believed to have more or less stopped a week ago, it seems
that weak eruptive has continued and regained some strength again now.

Strombolian activity at Tolbachik on 30 Aug (photo: Volkstat.ru).

Weak tremor has reappeared and incandescence could be seen again at the
active vent at Tolbachinsky Dol at night. Tourists could observe
strombolian activity and effusion of lava into the tube system on 30
August.

Chirinkotan (Northern Kuriles):
Some eruptive activity has been continuing throughout the past month at
the remote volcano in the Kuriles. Various satellite data collected
during the months of August and September show the presence of a strong
thermal signal (perhaps a lava lake) and a gas and steam plume, which
might contain at least small amounts of ash.

The thermal signals were
spotted on several occasions (when the usual dense cloud cover did not
prevent it) during the month of August, which suggests that the eruptive
activity has been continuous throughout the month.

Veniaminof (Alaska Peninsula, USA):
Another phase of strong tremor started last night, probably
corresponding to a second paroxysm with lava fountains and ash
emissions. Bad weather conditions have been preventing direct
observations.

Current seismic recording from Veniaminof (VNHG station, AVO).

AVO has received no reports of ash fall on nearby
communities, but this remains a possibility as the elevated levels of
seismic activity continue. (AVO)

Fuego (Guatemala):
A phase of increased lava flow activity occurred this morning from
about 6 am local time, generating a series of pyroclastic flows that
descended several ravines on different, but mostly the southwestern side
of the volcano.

Pyroclastic flows in the Ceniza canyon this morning (INSIVUMEH).

The volcano has been in moderate effusive activity
for at least the past two weeks, feeding relatively small lava flows on
the upper steep slope. A sudden increase in effusion rate seems to have
caused the destabilization of the lava flows, generating rockfalls that
turned into pyroclastic flows. The lava flows have quickly increased
from previously 200 m to about 2 km length. The surge of magma supply is
also suggested by the appearance of strong tremor pulses the previous
night... [read more]

Momotombo (Nicaragua): (1 Sep)
The earthquake crisis has intensified today and developed into a swarm
of shallow (around 5 km depth) earthquakes SE of the volcano. INETER
reported already more than 30 quakes between magnitude 1-3 today.

Seismic recording from Momotombo volcano (MOMN station, INETER).

There
is no official statement available so far, although this might well be a
precursor for a possible eruption in the near future.

Guntur (West Java):
The alert level was again raised to level 2 on a scale of 0-4 (Waspada,
"watch") following an increase in seismic activity observed since 15
August.

An elevated number of volcano-tectonic earthquakes (related
to rock-fracturing) and the appearance of tremor (indicating magma
movements) suggest that new magma could be currently intruding into the
volcanic system and lead to new activity which would threat numerous
nearby villages and the town of Garut located only about 8 km away from
the summit.

September 02, 2013 - UNITED STATES - As an operation had just begun to move 940,000 barrels of flammable
butane from one cavern to another Wednesday in the crippled
Napoleonville Salt Dome where the historic Louisiana sinkhole disaster is, as officially permitted by state leaders, seismic activity went wild and the monster sinkhole gulped down more trees. Over five million people around the world have viewed a video captured of the event.

Assumption Parish officials on Wednesday released a video showing a sinkhole swallowing several
trees in a matter of seconds.
(http://assumptionla.wordpress.com/)

Sacrificing more of the prescious bayou culture’s environment, now a national sacrifice zone,
the operation involved in moving butane from one cavern to another, the
drilling, preceded the latest major incident at the sinkhole this week
that heightened the emergency to a Code 3.

The incident also gave locals one thing they have begged to have for over a year: international recognition of human rights abuses they are enduring. Latest Bayou Corne, Louisiana Sinkhole event makes
international news, Over 5 million viewers watch monster suck down more
of Assumption Parish

Assumption Parish Police Jury had just posted information of
“continuing” “burps” happening in the sinkhole. “Burps” have been
periodically reported, but not “continuing burps.”

Just after that began, the monster sinkhole sucked more trees down into its insatiable gut,
all caught on a video (directly below) that is now going viral with
over five million views at the time of this writing, thanks to Bayou
Corne's peoples’ official, John Boudreaux with emergency preparedness.

The state’s Advocate and the New Orleans Times-Picayune both covered it.

Since this ongoing burp began, seismic activity has remained extra
heavy in the area and at least one helicorder, in the most active area
beng monitored, was out of commission Thursday.

“It’s time to call in the Feds, the Corps, the EPA, OSHA,” said one
outraged Bayou Corne resident, Mike Schaff, in an email sent to Dupre
Friday. “It’s time to shut down production at this facility.Code 3 alert pulls workers out of harm's way and off site - temporarily

The sinkhole disaster escalation this week heightened to a Code 3
Alert. That required temporarily pulling workers off the job there due
to escalated instability and accompanying unprecendented explosion
dangers.
This has more than one local even more outraged than they’ve been for over a year amid the covered-up disaster.

“We might want to ask the governor (Bobby Jindal) if he’s waiting for
someone to get killed on the job site before he shuts down production
and just leaves emergency personnel there to deal with this,” another
Bayou Corne resident said in a separate email sent to Dupré.

“It’s time to remove it’s time to shut down production at this
facility. It’s time to remove all personnel out of harm’s way, leaving
only necessary emergency workers.”

Dallas-based Crosstex Energy LP began shifting flammable liquid
butane from one underground storage cavern to another one in the
crippled salt dome on Tuesday, moving it 1000 feet further from a large
sinkhole in northern Assumption Parish, company officials said.

Residents have been fed up with Louisiana’s second major disaster and
the state’s response for over a year. Now, Crosstex has 940,000 barrels
of its flammable butane in one of its storage caverns in the salt dome,
near the 24-acre, 750 feet deep, ever-expanding “sinkhole.” The butane
move in the collapsing salt dome, rather than removing it and halting
operations, is adding more than insult to injury, according to locals.

Meanwhile, Houston-based oil and gas service company Texas Brine LLC,
takes the heat for the disaster, according to officials. It is also
calling the shots regarding resolving the sinkhole destruction,
according to locals.

As in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, that initially killed
eleven men on that rig off Louisiana’s coast, wit BP placed in charge of
cleaning up the mess, the failing sinkhole cavern operator blamed for
the state-permitted cavern that is collapsing and causing further
scandal, Texas Brine, has been placed in charge of Louisiana’s sinkhole
disaster.

“It’s time to stop wasting money and time,” Schaff said “It’s time to
take Texas Brine out of the driver’s seat and demote them from their
lofty position as project manager to mere check signers.”'Gov. Jindal, Workers are in Harm’s Way,' locals say

Despite some 300 local residents subjected to the life of energy
refugees, the constant threat of methane and other gas explosions, and
ongoing man-made quakes numbering in the thousands in the area, Crosstex
has also been permitted by Louisiana’s Department of Natural Resources,
and ultimately, Governor Bobby Jindal, to continue profitably piping its butane in and out of the troubled 1-mile by 3-mile salt dome.

The cavern where the butane is to be moved, called “Well #3,” is
“2,500″ feet from the sinkhole, according to Crosstex spokesperson Jill
McMillan, contradicting the “1000 feet” move explained by local parish
officials.

The company’s second cavern can hold 1.7 million barrels and held
propane earlier this year, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission, the Advocate reported.

“We need Corp of engineers to shore up the levees and start filling
the sinkhole with dredged sand, Wild Well Services to plug off the gas
at the source, USGS to bring in their technology to map the aquifer’s
topography, and last but not least, experts in separating water, methane
and H2S gas from the aquifer,” Schaff told Rachel Wulff at WDSU radio
station this week.

OVER A YEAR AGO, Residents’ reports to officials about earthquakes
and methane bubbles percolating in the nearby bayous in May 2012, were
seemingly dismissed.

On August 3, 2012, a 400 feet “sinkhole” was also reported. Governor
Bobby Jindal then declared a state of emergency and mandatory
evacuation, but stayed clear of the disaster, making only one appearance
there to visit resident energy refugees since the disaster’s onset.

“It’s time to evacuate them, drain the two huge brine holding tanks
on site to avoid another disaster, and call in the feds with their
abundant resources,” Schaff said.“ARE WE NUTS?’

In an email, Schaff wrote, “It’s over a damn YEAR… still no clue how
to resolve????? STILL WAITING ON TEST RESULTS!!!!!???? Are we NUTS?”

There is still no test result showing the real origin of the oil
spewing out of the sinkhole. It is not impossible for the entire
disaster to have been triggered by BP’s 2010 Gulf catastrophe.

One geographer predicted that the BP Gulf disaster could trigger inland sinkholes.

Another geographer warned Louisiana state officials that Gulf seismic
fault lines interconnect with inland fault lines, including from the
Macondo Prospect in the Gulf to where the sinkhole is in South
Louisiana.

Where are the sinkhole oil fingerprint results?

A more immediate question, that Schaff wants the media to ask Gov.
Jindal, is “why non-essential (production) personnel are allowed to be
in harm’s way” at the sinkhole.

That type of media exposure, however, would not benefit the
petrochemical-industrial-complex nor those elected officials it has
bought. - The Examiner.

Louisiana Sinkhole Goes Wild During Alaska Quake.

The Louisiana sinkhole seismic recorders show that during the period of the Alaska quake on Friday, the swamp monster went a bit wild at the helicorder stations LA 12 and LA 14.

“Mad activity” began at LA 12 began around noon CST at LA 12, reported by Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle under the title, “Seismic Activity! Head for the Hills!”

Around the same time today, Alaska’s Aleutian Islanders heard a loud sound like a jet rumble as their homes shook from a powerful 7.0 magnitude quake south of them in the Pacific Ocean.

The islanders went running for cover, according to the press.

As a preventive measure, dozens of Louisiana sinkhole area residents in Bayou Corne have also run for cover. They have become energy refugees, struggling to establish new lives after the fossil fuel industry has ruined their homes and livelihoods.

Meanwhile their state governor, highly criticized for continuing to issue permits for more drilling in the crippling salt dome where the 24-acre sinkhole is, travels the nation to drum support as a potential presidential candidate. Gov. Jindal as president would be ideal for the fossil fuel industry that long ago bought him with campaign dollars. - BIN.

September 02, 2013 - RUSSIA - Witnesses in Russia's Far East were astounded to see a spectacular
burning object break up in the sky near Vladivostok. Though bloggers
hailed it as a "meteor," scientists are skeptical.

Photos and videos of the object posted online have provoked a debate on
Russian social networks, with various ideas offered for what it might
be.

"I was sitting in my car. I did not start taking pictures immediately - first I did not pay attention. It was flying soundless," said one Internet user, who posted several photos of the event.

Witnesses said the early morning sky over Russky Island, across Vladivostok Bay, was lit up by a fireball, which later turned into a flaming line that remained in the sky for an hour and a half.

Some Russian media reported the sightings as a "meteor," saying it was some 15 kilometers above the ground.

WATCH: Fireball over Russia's Far East.

Other people speculated that the object could be a plane, an unmanned aircraft, a space craft or a distress flare.

Russian astronomer Vladimir Surdinlinked the sighting to the launch of a Zenit 3SLB rocket from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan on Sunday.

"The photos show that this was an artificial object," Surdin, of the
Stenberg Astronomical Institute in Moscow, said. "It was moving from
west to east and was witnessed some 20 minutes after the launch."

Speculation that the object could have been a meteor was heightened
because of the global media attention attracted by a meteor that
exploded near Chelyabinsk, in Russia's Urals region, in February.

On
that occasion, the impact wave damaged several buildings and blew out
thousands of windows amid frigid winter weather. One of the fragments
that struck near Chebarkul left a crater six meters in diameter. - RT.

September 02, 2013 - UNITED STATES - An SUV crossed into incoming traffic and slammed into a sedan in the Pennsylvania city of Kane on Saturday, killing six people, including two children, police said Sunday.

The 2005 Jeep Liberty, driven by Kathy Douglas, 36, crossed the double yellow lines dividing traffic lanes and barreled into the front of an approaching 2004 Pontiac Bonneville, according to a Pennsylvania State Police report.

Jay Bradish / The Bradford Era

All four occupants of the Pontiac — Gary Beimel, 62; Elaine Beimel, 55; David Cuneo, 54; and Florence Donachy, 81 — died in the collision.

A 6-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl traveling in Douglas' SUV were also pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Douglas and a 10-year-old boy in her car sustained serious injuries and were flown from the scene to trauma centers, according to police.

Jay Bradish / The Bradford Era

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the fatal collision, but the police officer assigned to the investigation, Trooper Roger McCloskey, told the Associated Press he believes Douglas was at fault and may face charges. - NBC News.

September 02, 2013 - CHINA - Jingchu network news (reporters Zhang Yang) on September 2, the number of dead fish from the fuhe River floating in the Wuhan section to the surface, according to the Wuhan Municipal Government Emergency Office publishing Twitter showed dead fish or upstream pollution-related. Emergency personnel at all levels of government departments and salvaging of dead fish along the coast at the same time, many fishermen come "cheap" part of dead fish into the market.

5 o'clock in the afternoon, reporters rushed to the waters near the fuhe bridge, flakes floating on water surface shining white of dead fish, mostly two or three centimeters long carp and white-mouth culter Erythroculter. Underwater, the more dead fish heads out of struggling to breathe, a humming sound of people worried.

Ouyangdaoming said to the fishermen lived here your whole
life, from the 80 's of the last century to the present, large areas of
dead fish almost every summer. Li Tun communities where he had few
people rely on fish for a living, residents considered xiaogan, among
others the sewage discharged from the upper river, resulting in the
death of fish. As of press, huangpi district environment Department
water sampling results still hadn't been announced.

"Dead,
consider themselves unlucky, who won't pay you. "Ouyangdaoming Frank to
fish in the River, like gambling, could only be made water abundant
year. This year, he has invested 200,000 fish fry, due to upstream water
reduction, "there is no dilution of hazardous substances in the river
water, has lost at least a hundred thousand of".

In order to stop, ouyangdaoming fishing in the River, dozens of
half-metre long dead catfish. In the presence of reporters, he sold more
than 20-pound catfish, waiting on the shore of hawkers, journalists
learn from what they are saying, it won't be long before these dead fish
appear in public on the dinner table. "The gutter is the one who could
live in the river died, and you say how much toxic? "On the sidelines
collecting small fish to feed the cat a villager said, which she can't
eat. Then, to the departments concerned in this case.

Reporter from Wuhan dongxihu EPA enforcement agency learned that dead fish has nothing to do with the outfall area, South head, should be the River, xiaogan caused by water pollution. Several nearby residents said this morning when the water is green, from xiaogan bayi bridge to the bridge on the River, dozens of full of dead fish in the water. Later, Wuhan Municipal Government Emergency Office official microblog confirmed that: "after the initial investigation, may be related to pollution upstream. ”

It is understood that the Wuhan Municipal Government has strictly huangpi, dongxihu, jiangan district organizations leading to the scene of uninterrupted salvage dead fish, prevent the market. This network will continue to pay attention to this. - Kaixian. [Translated]

September 02, 2013 - SPACE - On August 25, a fireball lit up the skies over Texas and New Mexico. The following constitutes a recording of the event, as well as the initial sightings reports.

File photo.

Initial Meteor Sighting Reports:

25 August 2013 - Denise Totah, Lubbock, Texas 5:00 a.m.

5 maybe 10 seconds duration, travelling from west to east, my right to
left. I was facing west. I thought it was a flash of lightning at first.
I turned to look up and saw this big flash of light and it looked like it had 2 contrails at the end.
I thought that maybe a plane had exploded, but there was no sound. It
was a little brighter than the moon. It looked like 2 trails coming from
it after it started disappearing. I didn't get a picture, I just know
that the flash was bright enough to make me look up to the sky cause I
thought it was lightning.

Thomas Ashcraft - Heliotown - New Mexico writes,

"Did anyone catch a large fireball on Aug 25 2013 at 0954:50 UT in the
west Texas- eastern New Mexico vicinity? (0354:50 am MDT / 0454:50 am
CDT) I caught a flash behind clouds which might have come from over the
horizon in which case this fireball would have been deeper into north
central Texas. It should show on space fence radar for Texas observers.
It made a 30 second radio reflection at 217 MHz and a two minute
reflection on tv forward scatter frequencies."

I saw something go across the sky and catch on fire and slow down to
almost a stop as it seemingly entered our atmosphere.. then it shot
across sky and seemed to disappear... never seen anything like that. It
was witnessed at 1:39 a.m. August 25, 2013 in Brazoria County Texas
right outside of the town Angleton.

September 02, 2013 - PERU - Officials say freezing temperatures and snow in the high plains of Peru and Bolivia have claimed at least six human lives in the past week and killed more than 30,000 domestic animals including sheep, llamas and alpacas.

Tens of thousands of animals have frozen to death over the past week.

Peru declared a state of emergency through Sept. 20 for its southern mountains, where most of the animal deaths occurred.

The
cold snap has affected about 80,000 mostly poor highlanders who depend
completely on their livestock and crops, which also have been damaged.

An unusual cold spell has hit Peru and its neighbour Bolivia as well as Paraguay

The cold front has also hit Peru's south-eastern neighbour, Bolivia, and Paraguay.

The heaviest snow fall to hit Peru in a decade has killed tens of
thousands of llamas, alpacas,
cattle and sheep, and left farmers
destitute.

Peru civil defense chief Alfredo Murgueytio calls it the worst weather in a decade in the country's south, with nearly three feet of snow falling in the Puno district.

WATCH: Thousands cut off by heavy snowfall in Peru.

WATCH: Thousands stranded in Peru.

Meteorologist Nelson Quispe said Sunday that the abnormal weather included the first snowfall in Chile's Atacama desert in 30 years. - FOX News.

September 02, 2013 - MEXICO - Up to 15 percent of the cattle herd in Matamoros has died because of the drought and rains that occur at this time are not enough to feed them, said Victor Garcia Garcia, President of the local livestock Association.

"This was nothing but a soft drink, the cows are thirsty, was just a breath though if it continues raining we would benefit much dams are still empty", said.

He explained that to solve water supply to meet the needs of livestock require 6 to 8 inches of rain water and past rainfall were barely two inches.

Farmers representative mentioned that they have a record of 18,000 head of cattle, although it confirmed the loss is from an average of two thousand, five hundred animals.

He stressed that is true become supports to solve the problems faced are not enough the serious situation occurring. - Hoytamaulipas. [Translated]

September 02, 2013 - RUSSIA - In
Ekaterinburg Iset shore near the bridge on the street Furmanova
littered with dead fish, in addition, the lost fish swimming in the
river.

According to eyewitnesses, the water in the river is turbid. Experts call for massive fish kills municipal drains.According to the Environmental Prosecutor's Office On the eve of the Sverdlovsk region, check on this fact holds Nizhneobskoe Pool Water Management.
Water professionals informed about this porbleme and had to visit the
area and select the carcasses of dead fish for further research and
identify the causes of death of the fish."The mass death of fish caused by municipal domestic sewage.
Investigation will be carried out in conjunction with the environmental
prosecutor's office," - said in Nizhneobskom water management.

As the Nakanune.TV, the townspeople, who often walk across the bridge, note that had never seen a dead fish on the surface of the water."Very often pass here, but I see this for the first time. Apparently,
someone threw something into the river" - is perplexed woman.A sad picture is not surprised and local fans of fish in polluted Iset."What do you want? It is the city's constant mud. Dirty water, all
sorts of waste, hence the result," - said Alexander fisherman.In the near future to understand the cause of mass death of fish in the prosecutor's office will Iset. - Nakanune. [Translated]

September 02, 2013 - UNITED STATES - Throughout history, large volcanic eruptions have been known to influence climate.

This summer, the Midwest experienced a cold wave referred to as "Julytober" following the June eruption of Mount Shiveluch in Russia. Experts continue to compare this eruption to others from history and debate whether it could have induced the cooler Midwestern weather.

When a volcano erupts, if it is large enough, it can send debris miles into the stratosphere. The stratosphere is the atmosphere above where weather takes place.

Debris sent into the stratosphere by an eruption can include volcanic ash, chemicals and gases, specifically sulfur. This debris can influence temperatures by aiding in a decreased amount of solar radiation.

"Sulfur dioxide combines with water in the atmosphere to provide sulfuric acid aerosol droplets that reflect incoming solar radiation," PhD Research Geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Volcano Observatory David Schneider said.

However, this is only the initial effect, the large effects of an eruption are not always immediate. Following an eruption, debris can build in the stratosphere over time and linger for years after.

"Large eruptions that inject several millions of tons of sulfur gases high into the atmosphere are known to change the weather," Academic Research Fellow at the Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science at the University of Leeds Dr. Anja Schmidt said.

Sulfur dioxide gas can disrupt monsoons and cause winter warming of the Northern Hemisphere continents, according to Alan Robock, associate director for the Center of Environmental Prediction and distinguished professor with the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University.

The most recent example of this phenomena was exhibited by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991.

The eruption of Mount Pinatubo sent debris 15-20 miles high into the stratosphere, producing massive cloud coverage from the North Pole to 20 degrees south of the equator. As a result, the globe cooled by one half of one degree, according to Browning Garriss.

Although the eruption of Mount Shiveluch in June was minor compared to previous eruptions like Mount Pinatubo, two years before in 2011 there were two big eruptions in Russia and Iceland. These eruptions launched high amounts of debris into the air that still remain present today.

With a lot of debris already existent in the atmosphere, the addition of the debris from Mount Shiveluch may have then had the ability to possibly influence temperatures by blocking out sunlight, Browning-Garriss said.

While volcano experts agree that it is possible for an eruption to influence temperature, as observed in the historic "the year without a summer" in 1816 resulting from the disastrous 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora, most do not believe that the June Russian eruption was massive enough to impact temperatures.

The Mount Pinatubo volcano and its brimming crater lake are seen
in this aerial view Thursday, Sept. 6, 2001, 80 km (50 miles) northwest
of Manila. Seeking to avert flooding, workers began draining the lake
Thursday, after thousands of nearby residents were evacuated from their
homes. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

"It is highly unlikely that the modest eruptions of Mount Shiveluchhave contributed in a significant manner," Schneider said.

Regardless of the debated effects of Mount Shiveluch's eruption on Midwestern weather, the AccuWeather fall forecast predicts continued cool weather for the Midwest states into September.

An early frost or freeze is possible for the region as temperatures are expected to drop to the mid- to low 30s. Heading into late October and November, even colder weather is predicted, making an early snowfall possible for the area. - AccuWeather.

September 02, 2013 - IRAN - Iran sits on some of the world's most active seismological fault lines.
There have been more than 10,000 earthquakes in the last year alone.

So far Tehran has escaped the worst.

Iran’s capital city could be set for a major earthquake,
according to scientists who say it is a matter of time before a strong
quake hits the capital, potentially destroying much of the city.

WATCH: Scientists warn of major Tehran quake.

Tectonic Summary - Seismotectonics of the Middle East and Vicinity.

No
fewer than four major tectonic plates (Arabia, Eurasia, India, and
Africa) and one smaller tectonic block (Anatolia) are responsible for
seismicity and tectonics in the Middle East and surrounding region.
Geologic development of the region is a consequence of a number of
first-order plate tectonic processes that include subduction,
large-scale transform faulting, compressional mountain building and
crustal extension.

Mountain building in northern
Pakistan and Afghanistan is the result of compressional tectonics
associated with collision of the India plate moving northwards at a rate
of 40 mm/yr with respect to the Eurasia plate. Continental thickening
of the northern and western edge of the India subcontinent has produced
the highest mountains in the world, including the Himalayan, Karakoram,
Pamir and Hindu Kush ranges. Earthquake activity and faulting found in
this region, as well as adjacent parts of Afghanistan and India, are due
to collisional plate tectonics.

Beneath the
Pamir-Hindu Kush Mountains of northern Afghanistan, earthquakes occur to
depths as great as 200 km as a result of remnant lithospheric
subduction. Shallower crustal earthquakes in the Pamir-Hindu Mountains
occur primarily along the Main Pamir Thrust and other active Quaternary
faults, which accommodate much of the region's crustal shortening. The
western and eastern margins of the Main Pamir Thrust display a
combination of thrust and strike-slip mechanisms.

Along the western margin of the Tibetan
Plateau, in the vicinity of southeastern Afghanistan and western
Pakistan, the India plate translates obliquely relative to the Eurasia
plate, resulting in a complex fold-and-thrust belt known as the Sulaiman
Range. Faulting in this region includes strike-slip, reverse-slip and
oblique-slip motion and often results in shallow, destructive
earthquakes. The relatively fast moving left-lateral, strike-slip Chaman
Fault system in southeastern Afghanistan accommodates translational
motion between the India and Eurasia plates. In 1505, a segment of the
Chaman Fault system near Kabul, Afghanistan ruptured causing widespread
destruction of Kabul and surrounding villages. In the same region, the
more recent 30 May 1935, M7.6 Quetta, Pakistan earthquake, occurred
within the Sulaiman Range, killing between 30,000 and 60,000 people.

USGS earthquake shakemap intensity.

Off
the south coast of Pakistan and southeast coast of Iran, the Makran
trench is the present-day surface expression of active subduction of the
Arabia plate beneath the continental Eurasia plate, which converge at a
rate of approximately 20 mm/yr. Although the Makran subduction zone has
a relatively slow convergence rate, it has produced large devastating
earthquakes and tsunamis. For example, the November 27, 1945 M8.0
mega-thrust earthquake produced a tsunami within the Gulf of Oman and
Arabia Sea, killing over 4,000 people. Northwest of this active
subduction zone, collision of the Arabia and Eurasia plates forms the
approximately 1,500-km-long fold and thrust belt of the Zagros
Mountains, which crosses the whole of western Iran and extends into
northeastern Iraq. Collision of the Arabia and Eurasia plates also
causes crustal shortening in the Alborz Mountains and Kopet Dag in
northern Iran. Eastern Iran experiences destructive earthquakes that
originate on both strike-slip and reverse faults. For example, the 16
September 1978 M7.8 earthquake, along the southwest edge of the
Dasht-e-Lut Basin killed at least 15,000 people.

Along
the eastern margin of the Mediterranean region there is complex
interaction between the Africa, Arabia and Eurasia plates. The Red Sea
Rift is a spreading center between the Africa and Arabia plates, with a
spreading rate of approximately 10mm/yr near its northern end, and
16mm/yr near its southern end (Chu, D. and Gordon, R. G., 1998).
Seismicity rate and size of earthquakes has been relatively small along
the spreading center, but the rifting process has produced a series of
volcanic systems across western Saudi Arabia.

The location of the Makran subduction zone of Pakistan
and Iran and locations of recorded earthquakes including the 1945
magnitude 8.1 earthquake (red dot to the north indicates the 1947
magnitude 7.3 earthquake). The profile for the thermal modelling of this
study is the N-S trending black line, with distance given along the
profile from the shallowest part of the subduction zone in the south (0
kilometers) to the most northern potential earthquake rupture extent
(350 kilometers). Credit: University of Southampton Ocean and Earth
Science.

Further north, the Red Sea Rift terminates
at the southern boundary of the Dead Sea Transform Fault. The Dead Sea
Transform is a strike-slip fault that accommodates differential motion
between the Africa and Arabia plates. Though both the Africa plate, to
the west, and the Arabia plate, to the east, are moving in a NNE
direction, the Arabia plate is moving slightly faster, resulting in the
left-lateral, strike-slip motion along this segment of the plate
boundary. Historically, earthquake activity along the Dead Sea Transform
has been a significant hazard in the densely populated Levant region
(eastern Mediterranean). For example, the November 1759 Near East
earthquake is thought to have killed somewhere between 2,000-20,000
people. The northern termination of the Dead Sea Transform occurs within
a complex tectonic region of southeast Turkey, where interaction of the
Africa and Arabia plates and the Anatolia block occurs. This involves
translational motion of the Anatolia Block westwards, with a speed of
approximately 25mm/yr with respect to Eurasia, in order to accommodate
closure of the Mediterranean basin.

The right-lateral,
strike-slip North Anatolia Fault, in northern Turkey, accommodates much
of the westwards motion between the Anatolia Block and Eurasia Plate.
Between 1939 and 1999, a series of devastating M7.0+ strike-slip
earthquakes propagated westwards along the North Anatolia Fault system.
The westernmost of these earthquakes was the 17th August 1999, M7.6
Izmit earthquake, near the Sea of Marmara, killed approximately 17,000
people.

At the southern edge of the Anatolia Block
lies the east-west trending Cyprian Arc with associated levels of
moderate seismicity. The Cyprian Arc represents the convergent boundary
between the Anatolia Block to the north and the Africa Plate to the
south. The boundary is thought to join the East Anatolia Fault zone in
eastern Turkey; however no certain geometry or sense of relative motion
along the entire boundary is widely accepted. - USGS.